Gingerbread
by dentedsky
Summary: None of them have read fairy tales but they still believe that dreams can come true. AC triplets shounenai.


**Gingerbread**

_Once upon a time there lived a prince, who was so beautiful his step-father locked him up in a tall tower with no doors and only one window. The prince was locked there because the step-father was jealous of the prince's good looks and long, silver hair._

_Was the prince's name Yazoo?_

_Quiet! I'm trying to tell a story. The prince was there for so many years, but his beauty never changed as if he never aged. However, his hair grew and grew._

_It's Yazoo._

_... Thank you._

_I'm not finished yet! One day a young, strong man on a horse came to the tower and yelled, 'Yazoo, Yazoo! Throw down your hair!' The prince's hair was long enough, that when he tossed it out the window, its tips touched the ground._

A fairy tale comes from a world of make-believe, which resides in the minds of children and the youth at heart. This story comes from a world full of pain and power, of sadness and betrayal.

There was once a small town called Gongaga, whose friendly, peaceful folk were wary of the Mako reactor Shinra had built on the edge of their town. The reactor made life easy for many, however, as Mako was converted into energy for light, cooking, and so forth. What the good townsfolk did not know, was that within the Mako reactor a young boy and two young men were kept hostage. They were the results of nasty experiments, unthought of by the most humble of people. The three boys knew not what a real home was, of a real meal, a real family. They were their own family, who hated those who made and experimented on them.

They were sometimes held in tanks full of Mako. But they were no ordinary boys – they had magic powers, which allowed them to speak to each other without speaking, through their minds. Kadaj, the youngest, was making up a story for Yazoo. Yazoo was sad because he had just come back from the specimen room.

_What's the man's name?_ Yazoo asked.

_The man's name is Loz. He was known as the Prince of Thieves, because he would steal from the bad, evil rich Shinra and give to the poor. So Loz climbed Yazoo's hair to the tower window._

_Did it hurt?_

Kadaj ignored Loz. _Together they ran away and lived a happy life in the forest._

The three boys' tales would often end in the characters running away to a better place, because that was what they too desired. Kadaj would often say, "We are going to run away soon. We are going far, far away from this place, and we will have a mother and a father." Loz had once called them the Lost Boys, who would one day run away to a magical place called Neverland. In Neverland there was happiness and excitement and they never grew up.

They weren't in the tanks all the time.

Sometimes they were thrown into the one room together. One night while they were sitting on Kadaj's bed, Yazoo told a story about a goose who would lay golden eggs. Jack discovered the goose by planting magic beans into the ground and climbing the stalk into the sky. The goose was owned by a giant man. Yazoo hugged his legs tighter to himself and said that maybe, while he's in the treatment room tonight, he'd find some magic beans.

They heard the scientists' footsteps approach their room. Kadaj cocked his head and stared through the bars; Loz let out a sob. Yazoo murmured a riddle: "I am the golden goose, but I never lay any eggs." And then the men took him away, and he was gone.

While Yazoo was gone Kadaj told Loz stories of beautiful princes like Yazoo, because Loz was crying and the stories often cheered him up.

_Once upon a time there was a king named Loz, who was looking to marry a beautiful prince. He searched far and wide and met many princes, but none of them passed the tests._

X-ray indicates activity in the cervix. Let's try fertilising it again – nurse, strap it down.

_Then one day a beautiful yet ordinary boy from the village knocked on the door and told the King's servants that he was a real prince. So they let him stay the night. They laid down one mattress then placed a green pea on top. Then they laid down fifty more mattresses and let the prince sleep on top._

Hold it down while I inject – Doctor, get the scalpel ready.

_The next morning the king asked how the prince had slept. 'Oh,' said the prince, 'it was awful, I did not sleep a wink as something was digging into my back!' _

Take note: it is having a reaction. Give it a sedative; we'll try again in two hours.

_And then the king knew he was a real prince, because only a real prince would be so sensitive._

It was a long time before Yazoo came back, and when he did the scientists threw him into the cell. He lay on the cold ground, hair splayed, unmoving. Loz sat on the floor and half-lifted him into his arms. "Wake up, Yazoo, wake up!" Loz cried into his brother's long hair.

Kadaj crouched nearby, leaning slightly forward into the dim light. "They pricked his finger with a needle, that's all, Loz," Kadaj murmured. "It was just a little prick with a needle to make him fall into a dreamless sleep. But there's an easy cure."

Loz blinked away tears and looked at Kadaj. "What, Kadaj? What is the cure?"

Kadaj smirked. "You are his king, so all you need to do is give him a kiss. Like this." Kadaj shuffled forward and gave Loz a small boy's kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Now it's your turn."

Loz looked down into Yazoo's beautiful, pale face and wished with all his heart that Yazoo would wake up. Then he closed his eyes and leaned forward, then pressed his lips to Yazoo's.

His lips were soft and warm. Loz's breathing seemed impossible to him, and for a moment he tightened his grip on Yazoo's shoulders. Yazoo's eyelashes fluttered against Loz's cheek for a moment, then he moaned lowly and touched Loz's shoulder.

Their kiss ended and they stared into each other's eyes.

A few hours later, it was meal time again. Loz heard the dragging steps of the old witch who brought their tray of food. They never saw her face, but they imagined it to be a hideous twist of human features. Loz imagined he could press his hand outside the bars and feel her face to _see_ what she really _looked_ like.

_My my, what big ears you have, grandma. "All the better to hear you with, my dear."_

Her old, withered hand might pass through the bars and offer Yazoo a poisoned apple. Then Yazoo would fall asleep, and Loz would get to kiss him again...

Their food was too hot, too cold, just right. Kadaj said if Loz kissed the old hag, she might turn into a frog. After lights out, they would escape so there would be no more Mako enhancements, no more experiments. Then they would go and find Mother.

The assistant came like the Beast to his Beauties, to take them to the Mako tanks. Loz reached out and snapped his neck with one hand.

_My my, what a big, juicy throat you have, grandma. "All the best to scream with, my dear."_

The alarms went off soon after. They ran down the halls like three blind mice being chased by a butcher – they did not know where the exit was. But they did know about the control room, and the weapons room. They took weapons: guns, knives, bombs. They set the largest bomb in the control room.

They had exited the building when the fires started. The men were chasing after them, through the forest until they reached the edge of the little town of Gongaga. Behind them, the reactor exploded.

The three stopped in the shadows and stared at the town. There were humans emerging from the little huts to watch the reactor be consumed by fire. "We should split up," said Kadaj, his eyes fixated on a strange, small crying human whose brown hair was tied into pigtails. They went in separate directions – they would meet on the other side of town. They would leave a mental trail for each other to follow, much like children with bread crumbs.

Kadaj stuck to the shadows and stealthily avoided the humans. The scientists and nurses and assistants and even soldiers were in the streets now, knocking on hut doors, demanding they search their homes. Kadaj slipped into one hut, backing up.

He shut the door and looked around the room. It smelt foreign yet pleasant, like good food and hot drink. The walls were decorated in a cheerful design and the furniture barely fit the room, but it all looked so comfortable.

"Oh, my goodness!" a human shrieked.

Kadaj spun around and thrust out a knife. A human had snuck around the corner while Kadaj was distracted – and what a strange human it was too. It was large with two big balls on the front, and it wore a smock with flower print all over it. Its voice was shrill and wavering.

"Oh, my goodness gracious me," it shrieked again, "it's a little boy!" The human female leant down, leaning its hands on its knees. "Now put that knife away, you could poke an eye out! Would you like something to eat? I'm making gingerbread men."

Kadaj slowly lowered his knife and nodded. The human went back into another room and something caught Kadaj's eye.

She came back in. "Now sit down at the table dear, that's a good lad. Have some gingerbread." She saw where Kadaj had been looking – at a framed picture of a young main with jet black hair. "Ah yes, 'tis my son, Zack. He went away and I have not heard a word from him since."

Kadaj did three things then: he took a bite from a gingerbread man, looked at the sad human female, then he searched through his special magic.

"Your son will die in one year," he said.

She gasped. Suddenly the front door burst open and a human male came through. "There's Shinra's people everywhere! Serves 'em right – what is that!" The man pointed at Kadaj, disgusted.

Kadaj jumped out of the little chair and drew out his knife again, this time pointing it at the man. "Haven't you been readin' the papers?" the man shouted at the woman. "Monsters everywhere – ugly ones, small ones, and even ones who disguise themselves as children – "

But Kadaj had heard enough. He fled to the next room and crashed through the window to the outside world.

_Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!_

He and his brothers would run all the way to Neverland if they had to. For Kadaj had felt in that little home and in the presence of a human female a yearning he had never felt before in his short life.

He needed to find Mother.

_...And they lived happily ever after..._

Author's Notes: The original edit of this was much clearer and less confusing due to my fantastic editing skilzzz +cough+ but unfortunately only allows so much fancy-pants. Oh and please review!


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